Tag: California

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How I know it’s time to go home…

Alright, I’m not proud of this but I’ve got to own it.

I went shopping on Thursday. I drove a ways to get to a shopping center where there was a Costco, Petco, Boot Barn, Office Depot, and a Ralphs all in close proximity to each other.

I actually had a pretty nice time. I got some sweatpants and underwear at Costco, picked up some USB memory sticks at Office Depot, got dog treats at a very nice Petco and shopped the Boot Barn because I like boots.

I’m not Imelda Marcos… BUT I COULD BE!

I also got my steps for the day in. The only time I had to move the car was to go to the Ralphs grocery store. It is close to all the rest of the stores but is still a few blocks away.

Getting into the parking lot was easy and the lot itself was pretty empty. I scored a parking spot right next to the Handicapped spots, grabbed my shopping bags and went to buy groceries. When I come out, I’m in a pretty good mood although I wasn’t thrilled with the cash I’d just spent. 

Bigstock Single Car In Empty Parking Lo 3211233

I was thinking as I put groceries into the trunk that I’d need to see how far I could stretch the food and do better at coupons and such. Turning to get the next bag out of the cart I notice a car double parked with the driver waiting inside and watching me.

Yep! The fucker was waiting on the spot I was in, with a parking lot full of empty spots. But this asshole was waiting on my spot. He Literally could have driven to the next aisle over and parked his piece of shit nose to nose with my vehicle. The parking spot in front of my car had been empty when I pulled in and was still empty.

But NOOOO!

This fucker needed to have the spot I was occupying, and he was creating a traffic jam to do it. 

I’m Sorry but this kind of stupid shit really sets me off.

In thinking about it I think it pisses me off because in a way it’s passive aggressive, it’s bullying, and it’s trying to rush me. That may not have been what this moron was trying to accomplish but it sure as hell is how it felt to me!

I can understand this behavior at Christmas when the lots literally have zero spaces available. But mid day in a lot where there are tons of other spaces to park??? Nah it’s bullshit!

I tried to shrug it off. Then I got into my car and realized that I couldn’t see the son of a bitch. I knew he was there and I knew he’d crowded the space enough that I might not be able to make the turn out of the parking space to go the direction I wanted to go. I might have to, because of this asshole, go the opposite direction, then have to thread my way through pedestrian traffic and other people trying to park and maneuver around this guy.

It’s at about this time, my ASSHOLE switch got flipped!

I refused to go the direction this fucker was trying to impose on me. I chirped the tires backing out of the parking slot and came within inches of hitting this fool. He managed to back up just in time.

I wasn’t done! I was really pissed off because what had been such a lovely shopping experience has suddenly turning into confrontation due to a rude thoughtless selfish motherfucker.

I went to the end of the lane and came around again just in time to roll my window down and tell this stupid fuck exactly what I thought of him, his family, his mother’s marital status when he was born, and suggested that he’d eaten too much lead paint when he was a child. (Yes I could say many of these things because the dumb fuck was about my age and he’d understand what I was saying.)

I also pointed out that there were no less than six other empty parking spots all equidistant from the grocery store’s door that he could have selected and that in the time he was waiting for me to pull out, he could have been in the damn store doing his shopping.

Then I drove off flipping him the bird out my sunroof!

That was only the beginning.

VehiclesTraffic was okay until I got within 10 miles of home. At that point one of the traffic behaviors that sends me into a blind rage was in full effect. 

All the lanes were moving at the same approximate speed with a mile or two of wide open space ahead of a bunch of drivers like sheep blocking all the lanes. They were pacing the 18 wheelers.

This is something that has been happening a lot lately on the freeway to my exit. There’s no reason for it, it just seems as though everyone decides to start playing pace cars while they’re drooling on themselves.

This is also why it often takes over an hour to go 20 miles near my place. There’s no rhyme or reason, just everyone gets stupid at the same moment. The spell lasts until one or two drivers like myself, a.k.a. impatient with stupidity, manage to punch through and accelerate away from the slack jawed crowd. 

It’s like once the morons see cars moving away, they decide to catch up. I’ve wondered sometimes if there was no change, no outside influence, would these people just keep slowing with everyone else until they came to a stop.

I’ve rarely seen this driving behavior outside California. I saw someone similar once passing through Phoenix but didn’t think anything more about it because so much of Arizona is full of California drivers.

Werewolfbreakingfree

Past New Mexico, driving across country you don’t see this kind of stupid. I take that back… Houston does it. 

I punched through passing a fucking Prius doing 60 in the fast lane where the speed limit is 70. Then made it to my exit, I was by this time in no mood to take the long way which is also less steep up the mountain. I hit the steep windy road and did 90 all the way.

I need to watch for mounting impatience with idiot people and leave for home at the first sign. If I wait and continue to deal with “The Stupid” I’ll lose my shit.

Unfortunately, sometimes “The Stupid” comes looking for me, and then, well, I’m probably gonna respond with howling insanity and make a fool out of myself.

The other half really did a remarkable job of holding me back from the abyss. I miss him and his calm reassurance. I also miss him reading me and sometimes deciding it was time for us to leave a place, or him taking me someplace quiet so I could cool down.

Maybe I’m still a little more raw than I think I am. 

He’d have said the guy waiting on my particular space wasn’t doing what he was doing to annoy me, he’d have said the guy was probably just completely checked out or had smoked too much dope. I’d have asked why I was the one always having to give everybody a pass. 

He’d smile and say, “Because you’re a smarter, better person, and better Man than they are…”

Yeah, he was working me! Stroking my ego to calm me down. 

So What?!? It was one of the innumerable ways that he said he loved me every day.

I hope each and every person knows that kind of love.

I also hope that each and every one of the moronic drivers on California roads learns to drive or can’t afford the gas to drive.

I’m trying to be a better man… I’m not there yet!

😁

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Dianne Feinstein is dead.

Condolences to her family.

Unlike the radical left, who dance on anyone’s grave that they disagree with,  I’m not going to jump for joy or say nasty things about her.

I didn’t agree with a lot of her policies. I really took offense when she was questioning a Marine a while ago and took him to task for politely using M’am instead of Senator. As in “Yes M’am” not “Yes Senator Feinstein”

I thought she was being overbearing and demonstrated how out of touch she was not only with Southerners (which the marine in question was,) but also with the Marine Corps itself who taught a level of decorum which included the use of the term “M’am”.

It was at that particular moment that I lost respect for Dianne Feinstein. At that moment she looked like she was more interested in badgering and bullying a young Marine than hearing his answer to her question. In that moment, I interpreted her entire career as about power not public service. 

I’ve thought for a long time that she should go. I thought she was losing touch with the realities of the world today and California in particular. She’d been in the Senate for far too long and had become isolated in the rarified air of Washington D.C.

It often seemed that she was more about the Washington Politics than about the people of California whom she was supposed to represent.

Over the past year or two it had become clear that Feinstein wasn’t doing all that well.

I thought it cruel that she was still being propped up and wheeled around while so obviously ill. The poor woman should have been home, enjoying her view.

Then again, having spent so much of her life in Washington D.C. it’s possible that she was more at home there, than in California.

For me Dianne Feinstein was a poster child for term limits. There have been many others, but she stuck out for me because she was one of my state senators.

Regardless of my personal opinions formed over the past decade or so… I’m sure that she did a lot of good in her idealistic youth and early years in Washington D.C. before politics consumed her. 

I sincerely hope she rests in peace.

Dianne Feinstein 1933-2023

Feinstein 1600

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It’s a clean new morning!

A certain someone woke me as soon as he figured out the rain had stopped.

I have to admire the way the dog resets every day. He makes me smile more than most other things, so I’ll keep him around for now.

For those of you still below the grey cloud cover, here’s a sample of what you have to look forward to, later today.

The morning smells clean and fresh. The dog is beside himself exploring the yard. He’s already pushing for a walk, which he’ll get after I’ve had at least one cup of coffee…

I’m not sure if the trash folks are coming up today or not. I don’t know how crazy things are beyond what I can see.

I never lost power, or was inconvenienced in the least by the storm. I got to stay inside most of the day enjoying a movie or two, the dog cuddled up beside me with the sound of rain on the roof and the wash behind the house roaring away.

It looks like there’s some kind of inspection crew down at the bridge, I can see the lights but not what they’re doing. I guess I need a decent pair of binoculars at the very least.

I’ve been waiting for a pair that were all “techie” range finder, night vision, predator weapon interface. You know, loaded with SciFi shit like you see in the movies. You’d think by now someone would have put something like that together! 😁

I wanted to see if the smiley face would work. Don’t expect me to start communicating in modern hieroglyphics but I wanted to test it as an option.

It doesn’t look like there’s a lot to clean up immediately around the house. I’ll wander out in a bit to do an inspection just to make sure. I don’t believe there’s any damage either so I don’t have to deal with insurance claims or FEMA.

As you may have noticed I’ve posted some video in the past day or two. Yesterday it was because I was bored, and a video shot on my phone was not to my liking. I set about cleaning it up and learned more about editing video. I’ll never be a pro at it but it’s interesting to dabble with.

The reason I shot the video in the first place was to send to my neighbor who is helping out a sick loved one in Palm Springs and was curious about his house and the neighborhood. I suspect that he’s dealing with a number of messes out there which are more severe than what happened here.

Once I’d exhausted my patience with video stuff, I spent the rest of the day answering inquiries from family on the East Coast who had watched too much CNN. From the way they were talking I imagined CNN was saying that the end of days was here and it was starting in California?

Anyway after quieting their concerns and reminding them all that an 8000 Ft mountain stood between me and the storm, they lapsed back to normal anxiety levels. I’m so confident about my mountain I dare a CAT 5 hurricane to hit it directly!

Bring it! Mother Nature.

Seriously, most storms that come in from the South are gutted on the peaks of the mountains. I live in their shadow, the upside is those storms I don’t usually worry about too much, the down side is that in winter it’s dark at my house by 3pm.

The only storms I really worry about are those swirling storms that come in from the North. Those are usually bitterly cold and batter the town for days on end.

Those of you who were impacted by the storm, I hope you fared at least as well as I did. Remember things are still gooey in some places. So pay attention and don’t take any chances with mud or innocent puddles across the roads.

Have a good day

I just found out that part of my little town is cut off due to some roads and bridges being washed out. This doesn’t affect me per se because I don’t need to go anywhere today or probably tomorrow. When I secured the place due to the unknowns of the storm, I secured to stay in place for days… Even a week or two if necessary.

I find that having laid in supplies, having a plan, and not having to go anywhere tends to make me a whole lot calmer about this sort of thing.